Official 2008 Draft Thread

[BGMaverick9]

DB.com Reports All Night From Mavs HQ
By Mike Fisher -- DB.com

TRADE 'TRIGGER POINTS' SET UP

The Mavs have “set up trigger points’’ that could allow them to move as high as the middle of the first round of tonight’s NBA Draft “if certain things fall into place,’’ team GM Donnie Nelson says.

Nelson opened a 5:40 p.m. pre-Draft meeting with the media at the AAC by selling the idea of being “prepared to pick at 51.’’ He talked of the depth from the “international scene’’ and of maybe taking “a U.S. citizen.’’ But when pushed, he conceded that the club still hopes to buy or acquire a first-rounder depending on the availability of the right player.

Nelson said some teams are “trying to punt their picks’’ in the mid-and-late first round of a draft that has featured a “very, very active last 48 hours.’’ Dallas’ cost to do – as is conventionally done for a late-first-rounder – is $3 million. Nelson said the Mavs don’t want to buy a pick before knowing what player might be available in the slot.

And what about moving into the top 10, as DallasBasketball.com has reported the Mavs have attempted to do? Nelson said that “becomes more difficult’’ as the actual selection process draws nearer.

So the present mindset? Dallas crosses its fingers that just the right player is available at just the right spot owned by just the right seller-minded team.